


"He Really Took Care of Me": A Mikkel Bødker/Oliver Ekman-Larsson Primer

by Solarcat



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Arizona Coyotes | Phoenix Coyotes, Embedded Images, Embedded Video, I Will Go Down With This Ship, Implied/Referenced Character Death, KEEP CHECKING BACK, M/M, Meta, No but for real though, Primer, Ship Manifesto, Updated Regularly!, this has existed for like a week and i've updated it about four times already
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-21
Updated: 2015-01-21
Packaged: 2018-03-08 08:40:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3202814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Solarcat/pseuds/Solarcat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mikkel Bødker and Oliver Ekman-Larsson play for the Arizona Coyotes. They are also precious Scandinavian boyfriends, life-ruiners, and so sweet they'll give you diabetes. And this is a ridiculously extensive, four-part primer all about them, which everyone should totally read.</p><p>(Updates regularly as we get new/additional info!)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Mikkel Bødker

**Author's Note:**

> I would like to thank my friends for putting up with me as I worked on this for the last month, particularly the last few days as I was losing my mind because I have done so much research that I'm becoming functional in Swedish. Thank you for providing support, input, and translation help. Y'all are the best! <3
> 
> WARNING: If you got here by searching for your own name, or the names of any of your friends/relatives/acquaintances, for the love of god hit the back button, please. D:
> 
> DISCLAIMER: A hell of a lot of research went into this, and I got some help with some of the translations, but I am mono-lingual in English, and a fair amount of information came from non-English sources. I cannot guarantee 100% accuracy, basically. I've done my best, but if anyone catches any mistakes, please let me know so I can improve the primer! <3
> 
> Additionally, the images used are ones I've collected over time, which means I've lost sources for most of them. If you're the owner of any of the images and would like credit, just let me know! I'm happy to add image credits.
> 
> (Additional note: I posted [this primer](http://solarcat.tumblr.com/post/100954830666/precious-scandinavian-boyfriends-a-mikkel) on Tumblr a while back; some of this information is a repeat of that, but this is the ~super-intensive~, expanded version!)

  
**Name:** Mikkel Bødker [English: Mikkel Boedker]  
  **Number:** 89  
  **Nickname:** Boeds/Bøds, “The Great Dane” (rarely)  
  **Birthplace:** Brøndby Municipality, Denmark (essentially Copenhagen)  
  **Hometown:** Brøndby, Denmark  
  **Born:** December 16, 1989 [age 25]  
  **Ht/Wt:** 5’ 11”, 211lbs (the official roster now says 6’ even. the official roster is a lie. ~NHL height bump~)  
  **Position:** LW, shoots left  
  **Drafted:** #8 overall by the Phoenix [now Arizona] Coyotes, 2008

 **Family:** Mads (brother, b. Aug 31, 1987), Lene Bødker (mother, nurse)  & Jesper Bødker (father, machinist and some-time equipment manager for Team Denmark)

**Youth Hockey / European Juniors / SHL / OHL**

Mikkel was born and raised in Brøndby, Denmark, which is just outside Copenhagen. 

_(That's tiny!Mikkel with tiny!Lars Eller! -Ed.)_

As a youth skater, he was trained in and played for the Rødovre Skøjte og Ishockey Klub (Rødovre Skating and Ice hockey Club, or Rødovre SIK, the "Mighty Bulls"), starting in the 2004/05 season (that we have numbers for, anyway). He played on the Danish national U18 team at the World Junior Championship in 2005, alongside his brother Mads! (Mads also played for the U20 team that won bronze, yay! … Well, bronze in D1. It’s Denmark, they’ll take what they can get in international competition, alas. *Sigh*) 

After that is where things get interesting! When Mikkel was still just 15 he moved to Sweden to play for Frölunda J18 in the J18 Allsvenskan, starting with the 2005-06 season.

Mikkel stayed with Frölunda for several seasons, playing on their J18 Allsvenskan team and J20 SuperElit team. In 2006/07, Frölunda won the Swedish Junior playoffs, and Mikkel was the scoring leader in those playoffs, with 11 points in 8 games! 

_(Mikkel’s the one with his hair plastered to his head, in the upper-ish right side of the picture! -Ed.)_

Eventually, Mikkel got the opportunity to play for Frölunda HC in the Swedish Hockey League. He didn’t play a _ton_ of games in the SHL, but as this was in 2006/07, it’s still pretty impressive, since he was only 17 at the time! 

During ’05/06, Mikkel again played on the Danish U18 National Team at the WJC, winning silver (D1 again), and on the U20 team, also winning a silver medal (…again, D1). 

Mads also played on the U20 team that year with his brother, and also for the Danish National Team at Worlds, since he aged out of U18 (obviously). In ’06/07 Mikkel again played for the national team at the WJC, still in D1, but they brought home gold in both the U18 and U20.

The key here is that the Bødker brothers are staples of the Danish national team, because they are pretty great!

In 2007, Mikkel was drafted #5 overall by the Kitchener Rangers of the OHL in the OHL import draft, which is pretty significant, both in terms of his development and in terms of him getting noticed by the NHL.

For the 2007/08 season, he left home _completely_ , moving to Canada at age 17 to play for Kitchener, all by himself (Mads continued to play in European leagues, mostly in Sweden). 

Mikkel ended the OHL season with 29 goals and 44 assists in 62 games, earning himself a +6 rating on the season. 

In the Memorial Cup race, he was a +11 with 9 goals and 26 assists in 20 games. While the Rangers didn’t win the Memorial Cup (they came in runners-up to the Spokane Chiefs), they had a pretty amazing roster that year!

All of this was probably very helpful for a couple of things: 

(1) making Mikkel a hell of a lot better at English than he would have been otherwise; and 

(2) getting him noticed enough to be drafted in the first round! 

He was drafted #8 overall by the Phoenix Coyotes in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft. 

_(We’ll just politely ignore whatever was happening with his hair, at this point. He was young. We all make mistakes! -Ed.)_

Mikkel currently remains the highest-drafted Danish player in the NHL. (Ehlers went #9 overall in 2014, coming close to taking that title, but not quite~)

  


**NHL Career Thus Far**

Mikkel broke the lineup right away in Phoenix, and did well in his rookie year in 2008-09, playing 78 games for the Coyotes and netting 11 goals and 17 assists on the season. 

Mikkel actually graced the cover of NHL 10 in Denmark, which is pretty cool!

Unfortunately, Mikkel hit kind of a big sophomore slump, and spent most of the 2009/10 season and part of the 2010/11 season bouncing up and down between the Coyotes and their then-AHL affiliate, the San Antonio Rampage. 

It wasn’t super-great to be demoted to the AHL, but it was probably good for Mikkel, giving him a bit more time to develop. The big downside was that this probably had an effect on his contract negotiations later on, leading to his current gap contract. _(Boo, hiss,_ lock him down for good, _Maloney~ -Ed.)_

Anyway, by the end of 2011, Mikkel was pretty firmly back on the Coyotes’ roster full-time; he finished the 2010-11 season with 14 points over his 34 NHL games. Mikkel played a full 82-game season in 2011-12, leading up to the Coyotes’ big playoff run to the Western Conference Final, and had 11 goals and 13 assists on the season, 24 points in total.

During the 2012 lockout, Mikkel went to Rauma, Finland, to play for Rauman Lukko (or just “Lukko”), in the Finnish Elite League (SM-liiga; or just the Liiga, these days). It’s entirely possible he chose a team with as similar a mascot to the Coyotes as he could get, but that is just conjecture:

_(Fun fact: Lukko fans hated these jerseys so much that they boycotted the team until they changed the jerseys back to the original lock logo you see below — though the fox remains their mascot. Lukko fans are hardcore. -Ed.)_

We have no information on whether he speaks any Finnish (we can hope Korpikoski taught him some swear words at some point, at least?). Anyway, he seemed to do well there regardless, and apparently got to play with some guys who either were his friends previously or with whom he made friends during his time there, so good for him! 

_(Good to see his mouthguard habits didn’t change while he was over there? -Ed.)_

Of course, post-lockout he came back to Phoenix, and we are happy to have him back! 

_(How could we not be happy to see this face?? -Ed.)_

In early September of 2013 — just before the start of training camp — Mikkel signed a 2-year extension with the Coyotes. Per [Sarah McLellan](http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nhl/coyotes/2013/09/07/mikkel-boedker-winger-contract-two-years/2780719/), one of the Coyotes’ beat writers (who is quite excellent btw), the two camps were having trouble agreeing on value for a long-term contract, and so Mikkel ended up with a 2-year deal rather than the long-term he was looking for. 

However, the hope is that by the end of this season, which is the end of the current contract, Bøds will be locked up with the Yotes for a long time to come!

Luckily, things are looking good on that front! 

In the 2013-14 season, Mikkel had 19 goals and 32 assists; his best NHL season yet. And things keep getting better! Not only did Mikkel record his first career hat trick early in the 2014-15 season, he’s also on a career-best scoring streak as of mid-January, and has already notched 14 goals and 14 assists in 44 games!

Despite the team’s current tendency to follow up Mikkel’s gorgeous goals by losing miserably, he’s bounced back from a bit of a scoring slump and started showing off a bit more, lately, which is excellent.

Unfortunately, after a hit he took in Winnipeg on Sunday, Jan 18, Mikkel left the game in the third period and ended up in the hospital. It turns out [his spleen had ruptured](http://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/nhl/coyotes/2015/01/20/coyotes-winger-mikkel-boedker-undergoes-successful-spleen-surgery/22080687/%E2%80%9C), and he had surgery that night to remove it. The surgery went well, but he’s currently out 4-6 weeks to recover. 

The team had to fly out to Chicago, but reportedly Coyotes trainer Mike Ermatinger and possibly Tony Matarazzo, who’s the Winnipeg-based contact for Titan 365, stayed with him — early reports mentioned that one of his agents was there.

Anyway, we of course wish Bøds a quick and full recovery, and look forward to seeing him back on the ice soon!

As a player, Mikkel has some real strengths. His speed is one of his biggest assets, but he also handles the puck very well, and his shot is excellent. He sees a lot of time on the Coyotes’ top lines, and deservedly so. 

Mikkel is also part of the team’s powerplay unit, which isn’t the best at the moment, but that gets toward one of Mikkel’s weaknesses on the ice — he’s almost too nice, sometimes. 

Captain Shane Doan has actually said that he had to yell at Mikkel a bit to try to get him to _shoot the puck_ , instead of passing it to his linemates. He may have backslid into that passing behavior a little bit as this season has worn on, but it seems like he’s broken out of it somewhat as we hit the halfway point of the season. _(FINALLY! -Ed.)_

Mikkel’s work ethic is great, and he’s also a genuinely great guy. He’s really nice to fans, is pretty much always smiling, and seems to really enjoy being part of the Coyotes organization.

Now that he’s got a few years with the team under his belt, he seems to be stepping into more of a leadership role at times, which is nice to see. He’s pretty level-headed, though it’s still obvious that he gets frustrated, both with the team and with himself, when things aren’t going well. The important thing is the way he deals with it — Mikkel’s kind of a nose-to-the-grindstone type, and tends to respond to his frustration by attempting to put the team on his back and score all the goals _by himself, if he has to~_. 

This is not always successful, but it _is_ always exciting to watch him light the afterburners on a breakaway — Mikkel is really, _really_ fast, you guys. He’s one of the best skaters in the NHL, and when he’s flying, it’s just glorious to watch.

All in all, Mikkel is a great asset to the team and a favorite among the fans, for good reason! 

_(And it’s not just that he’s pretty! …Though that does help. -Ed.)_

  
**Family**

Jesper Bødker, Mikkel's father, is a machinist by trade, but at one point was a full-time equipment manager for the Danish national hockey team. He's since gone back to his regular job, apparently. Mikkel's mom, Lene, is a nurse, and apparently he takes after her.

Mikkel's parents are super-proud of him and come to visit occasionally, and when they're home in Denmark, they watch his games from 4am-6am or so, take a nap, and then go to work. So basically they are great and really supportive. Mikkel moved out and into an apartment in Sweden to play hockey at the age of 15, so he hasn't lived at home for a while (though he presumably visits during the summer), but they still seem to be quite close.

Mads Bødker, Mikkel’s older brother, gets his own little bio in Section 4 of this primer, because Mads is great and everyone should love him always. For the time being, suffice it to say that Mikkel and his brother are pretty close, and have been since they were kids. 

_(This is Mads. If you are not convinced to love him yet, ~you soon will be~! -Ed.)_

Mads plays hockey in Europe, currently for SønderjyskE in the Metal Ligaen, which is the top Danish league, but he comes out to visit Mikkel on occasion. 

The general consensus seems to be that Mads just doesn’t have the ridiculous skill he would need to overcome his lack of height, in order to crack the NHL. At 5’ 8” tall, he’s pretty short for an NHL D-man, but he seems to be making a decent career for himself in Europe, which is great! 

Mads and Mikkel are affectionately called “the Fox and the Hound” by their parents, because of their names. It’s stupidly adorable, which is appropriate, because Bødker brothers~ <3.

_(Go away, Mads~ We’re coming back to you later~! -Ed.)_


	2. Oliver Ekman-Larsson

  
**Name:** Oliver Oscar Emanuel Ekman-Larsson  
  **Number:** 23  
  **Nickname:** OEL, Ollie, “O”, “Harry” (we’ll get there)  
  **Birthplace:** Karlskrona, Sweden  
  **Hometown:** Tingsryd, Sweden  
  **Born:** July 17, 1991 [age 23]  
  **Ht/Wt:** 6’ 2”, 200lbs  
  **Position:** D  
  **Drafted:** #6 overall by the Phoenix [now Arizona] Coyotes, 2009. 

(Fun fact! Oliver was _also_ drafted in the 2009 KHL draft, number 85 overall, by Metallurg Magnitogorsk. Obviously, he didn’t choose to sign with them, but. Interesting! _Special Note:_ We mostly avoid going down this AU path, because the players that were drafted to Lokomotiv lead us to very sad mental places.) 

**Family:** Kevin (brother, b. Jan 26, 1995), Patric Larsson (father, former hockey player, current GM for Tingsryds AIF), Annika Ekman (Mother, former-footballer and hairdresser who still cuts his hair when he’s home, BLESS  <3 ), Kenneth Ekman (maternal grandfather, former hockey player), numerous cousins~! 

  
**Youth Hockey / European Juniors / SHL**

Oliver started his hockey career in his hometown of Tingsryd, Sweden. He was actually born in nearby Karlskrona, and you’ll see some resources name Karlskrona as his hometown as a result. However, he has specifically called Tingsryd his “hometown” in several interviews, and it’s where he spends his summers (well, mostly). 

_(He got a hockey stick for his 9th birthday, obviously. -Ed.)_

Tingsryd is a tiny little town of about 3,000 people, according to the 2010 census, but don’t be fooled, Tingsryd _loves_ its hockey — Nelson Garden Arena, where Tingsryds AIF (“TAIF”) plays their home games, seats 3400. Yeah, you read that right. The _entire population of the town_ can fit into the arena, with room to spare for some away-team fans. 

Oliver played in the TAIF system, playing for their J20 Elit team in the 2005-06 season, despite being all of 14 years old at the time. Technically it counts, even if he only played one game! Okay, okay, but really, he picked it up the next season, playing on TAIF’s J18 team in the J18 Elit and J18 Allsvenskan in the 2006-07 season. He scored no goals at all, but that’s okay. Why? Well, Oliver’s given two stories on this. 

Story one: he actually played forward until he was about 15, so this was about the time that he was changing over and learning to play defense, so we won’t hold his lack of goal production at age 15 against him. 

Story two: His dad wanted him to get some perspective, so he moved to forward for a while before going back to defense. 

Which is true? _No idea._ Either way, we know Oliver played forward around that time, then moved permanently to defense.

Either way, the facts show that he was pretty damn good at defense: the next season, 2007-08, he played 27 games in Division 1 hockey for Tingsryds AIF, the pro team in the system. 

Also in 2007-08, Oliver was an “A” for Småland 1/ Röd in the TV-Pucken tournament, which is kind of a big deal in Sweden (and in Oliver’s family, for reasons which will be discussed later!). Oliver’s district team won gold in the tournament that year, which is one of only five times they’ve won gold. Additionally, Oliver was named Best Defenseman in the tournament!

_(These are the years, the years in which Oliver could pretty easily pass for a short-haired girl~ <3 -Ed)_

> ( **A quick aside about Swedish hockey:**
> 
> The highest league is the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), which used to be called the Elitserien or Swedish Elite League until 2013. The league below that is the HockeyAllsvenskan, or just the Allsvenskan; there’s a relegation system (a series called the Kvalserien) by which teams can move between these leagues. 
> 
> Below the Allsvenskan is Hockeyettan, or Division 1, which is the tier iii league. There’s a Kvalserien qualification by which teams can move up to the Allsvenskan or be relegated from the Allsvenskan to D1. Since the early 2000s, Tingsryds AIF has spent some time in the Allsvenskan, but has lately found itself back in Division 1. **/end** )

*AHEM*

  


In the 2008-09 season, Oliver took an opportunity to play for Leksands IF (or just Leksands), which was in the Allsvenskan at the time, so it was a chance to jump to a higher league of play. He did very well for himself, with 3 goals and 14 assists in 39 season games, and 2 goals / 2 assists in the SHL Kvalserien. That doesn’t sound like a lot, but Oliver won Most Points by a U18 Junior in the Allsvenskan for the season. 

_(Embrace the hedgehog years~ <3 -Ed.)_

Leksands IF remained in the Allsvenskan for 2009-10, and Oliver remained with them, wearing an “A” and scoring 9 goals and 18 assists in 42 games and 2 goals / 4 assists in the Kvalserien.  


_(Important note: Oliver makes this face a ~lot~. It’s completely awful and makes us all think Very Bad Thoughts. *cough* -Ed.)_

During this time, Oliver had also been making regular appearances on the Swedish national teams, including winning Bronze with the World Junior Championships U20 team in 2010, and then going on to win Bronze with the Swedish team in the World Championships in the same year. In 2011, Sweden (and Oliver) would bring home the Silver in the IIHF World Championship.

So Oliver had a fair amount of bling to his name before he ever hit the NHL, which probably contributed a lot to his being drafted in the first round, #6 overall, by the Phoenix Coyotes in the 2009 NHL entry draft.  


As you may notice, he decided to spend the 2009-10 season playing with Leksands, developing his skills a bit more before making the jump to the NHL. He eventually moved across the Atlantic and joined the Coyotes for the 2010-2011 NHL season.

_(Look at this ~infant~ oh god I can’t stand it~ -Ed.)_

  
**NHL Career Thus Far**

Oliver didn’t start playing huge minutes right away. His first season, he played 15 games for the San Antonio Rampage in the AHL, and 48 games with the Coyotes. He ended the season with only one goal, but 11 points and a +3 rating. In 2011-12, he cracked the roster for good, playing 82 games and notching 13 goals and 19 assists to help take the Coyotes to the Stanley Cup Playoffs. 

He only ended up with one goal in the playoffs, but the team made it to the Western Conference Finals in 2012, finally getting knocked out by the LA Kings, who went on to win the Cup.  


_(General note here — the Coyotes and the Kings do not like each other. At ~all~. -Ed.)_  


Regardless of a disappointing finish, Oliver had a pretty good year — in addition to playing the full season in the NHL, he was also at the All-Star Weekend in Raleigh, NC in 2011, playing in the rookie game. He played for Team Lidstrom, which was probably a dream come true, because [ Nicklas Lidstrom was his hockey idol growing up](http://espn.go.com/nhl/story/_/id/10165897/nhl-take-notice-phoenix-coyotes-defenseman-oliver-ekman-larsson) — for reasons which are probably obvious.

  


  


During the 2012 lockout, Oliver played for the Coyotes’ new AHL affiliate, the Portland Pirates, where he earned 21 points in 20 games. 

It’s an excellent point total, but he probably wasn’t super-excited about it — Oliver had planned to play for Tingsryds AIF if there was a lockout (for free! He loves his hometown team, for real, and works out with them in the summer), but initially, the SHL put a ban on short-term contracts for NHL-ers in the case of a lockout. They eventually lifted the ban on Sept 21, but Oliver had already agreed to play in Portland as of Sept 15. 

(Petter Nilsson, the TAIF coach at the time, was [absolutely furious](http://www.smp.se/sport/taif-trotsar-nhl-forbud-hoppas-att-oliver-spelar%283421914%29.gm) about the league’s decision and was threatening to force the issue and let the league take them to court; presumably he calmed down, but there was _way_ more drama associated with Oliver’s lockout experience than Arizona hockey media actually covered! They always characterize it that he chose the AHL over Sweden, but… that may not be 100% accurate, after all.

Oliver hasn’t said anything negative about playing in Portland, to my knowledge, but presumably he would rather have spent the lockout at home, playing with his friends in his hometown, rather than in a totally new part of the States, sans-Mikkel Bødker. However, in true Oliver fashion, whenever asked about playing in Portland he emphasizes how great the guys are/were, and that it was a good experience for him, so.)

Regardless of lockout woes, Oliver came back to the Coyotes when it was over, and re-signed with the team on a new 6-year, $33million contract in March, 2013, so he’s in Arizona to stay for a while! He’s currently one of the team’s top blueliners, averaging over 25 minutes per night, and was even voted Team MVP for the 2013 season.

Oliver was selected for the Swedish Olympic Team for the Sochi Olympics in 2014, which was very awesome, especially since his grandfather also played for Sweden in the 1972 Olympics! 

In the actual Games, he played quite a bit at first, paired up with Erik Karlsson on the blue line (can we talk about what a dream-team that is? CAN WE? They were absolutely amazing together~). 

However, once the Swedes got Alexander Edler (who was suspended from international play for his knee-on-knee hit on Eric Staal in the 2013 IIHF World Championships) back in their lineup, Oliver ended up spending a lot of time on the bench, including being benched for their entire game against Finland in the semifinals, and wound up averaging only about 10 min of ice time/game, which is insanely low for him. 

It seems Par Marts isn’t a huge OEL fan — he also left Oliver off the WJC team he coached in 2009.

The whole thing was honestly baffling, and Oliver was pretty clearly upset by it, but (in his usual fashion) didn’t really complain at all. Of course, bringing home an Olympic silver medal probably helped!

Still, you can’t help but wonder if it would have been gold, had Marts kept these two together!

_(OEL and EK are still buddies, obvs, and hung out at NHL Media Day! -Ed.)_

As of right now in the 2014-15 season, he’s also one of the team’s leading goal scorers (he has an absolutely wicked one-timer) and leads the NHL with 6 game-winning goals on the season (a significant number of them in OT).

Oliver was also selected to play in the 2015 All-Star Game, so soon we should have pictures of him in one of those terrible neon jerseys, Hockey Gods save us all. (Unfortunately, EK is _not_ going, so we don’t get to see that D-pair again, which we were all hoping for. *SIGH*)

 **UPDATE!** Oliver participated in the skills relay and ~totally aced~ the stickhandling, and then went 2-for-2 in the shootout against Luongo, _using Mikkel Bødker's shootout move_ , be still our tiny hearts! <3 Further updates as the All-Star Weekend continues! 

  
**OEL of Sweden**

Oliver gained some dubious celebrity in hockey circles for showing up late to training camp in September 2013 (remember hearing about That Guy??), because he didn’t have his visa paperwork in order. Which, bad Oliver, no biscuit. BUT! There was sort of a reason for that!

(Well, an additional reason. Primarily, there were some long delays with his passport, apparently — he stated in an interview that he had to wait 5 weeks for it, so who knows what was up with that; he basically refused to talk about it.)

Over the summer of 2013 he was busy launching his company, [OEL of Sweden](http://oelofsweden.se/en/), which sells mostly underwear (men’s and women’s) and hats, and also some t-shirts. So he was a little preoccupied. 

( _Confession: I own two OEL of Sweden hats and three t-shirts; they are super-comfy and great! -Ed._ )

After the first promo images, Oliver hasn’t really modeled for the company (other than wearing his own products all the time, of course). Instead, they hired real models. But they regularly send out promotional materials that look like this: 

So, clearly OEL of Sweden is an excellent life choice! \o/

We the people, meanwhile, rejoiced because our defenseman is also, technically speaking, a Swedish underwear model! ~We have the pictures to prove it!~

_(It’s pretty great, ngl! -Ed.)_

  
**Family**

Oliver has a younger brother, Kevin, who plays hockey also. He’s currently playing for Tingsryds AIF, but previously spent some time playing for Leksand. He’s likewise a defenseman by trade, but clearly followed in Oliver’s footsteps in more ways than one — his twitter mentions that he debuted at forward on Dec 1, 2013. He’s back to playing defense now, though.

Oliver and Kevin weren’t super-close as kids, because of the 4-year age difference, but Oliver has said that they’ve been growing closer, which is great. 

It’s worth pointing out at this point that Kevin _adores_ Mikkel Bødker. He’s a total fanboy; it’s really great.

That’s definitely not the end of Oliver’s family connections, though! In fact, Oliver comes from something of a sports dynasty family.

Oliver’s father, Patric Larsson, played hockey for Tingsryds AIF from 1992-1994, and for Karlskrona IK for most of his career (before and after his stint in Tingsryds), which ended in 1996. 

He’s currently the GM for Tingsryds AIF, and has been since the 2013-14 season. Additionally, Oliver has stated that his dad “takes care of old people who can’t take care of themselves.” So he’s a busy guy around Tingsryd! 

Luckily, he has sweet wheels to get around in — Oliver bought his parents an orange Lamborghini Gallardo as a thank-you present for helping him get where he is, because he knew it was his dad’s favorite car… at one point. At the time Oliver bought it for him, Oliver has admitted he has no idea if his dad still wanted one. _Oh, Oliver._ (He seems to drive it in the summer, so whether it can be called “his parents’ car” anymore is debatable.)

_(This is a town of 3,000 residents, remember. I think we can assume that “anonymity” is not really a ~thing~, at this point. Especially not when driving ~that~. -Ed.)_

Oliver’s paternal uncles, Tobias and Andreas Larsson, also played hockey. Tobias Larsson played for a number of teams, primarily Karlskrona IK and StiL Hockey, between 1989 - 2008. Andreas Larsson played from 2001 - 2006 for StiL Hockey; presumably they got to hang out a lot.

_(Tiiiiiiny 9-year-old Oliver, with his uncles! -Ed.)_

Oliver’s mother, Annika Ekman, is currently a hairdresser (and may possibly own a salon in Tingsryd, but my Swedish is currently Google Translate-enabled, so don’t quote me on that!), but prior to that, she played football for Östers IF, which is how she and Patric met.

Oliver’s maternal grandfather, Kenneth Ekman (whose actual full name, I kid you not, is Karl-Axel Kennert Ekman, which is just an awesome name), also played hockey for Tingsryds AIF (1969 - 1982), and prior to that, for Rögle and Troja-Ljungby. 

Oliver’s (maternal) cousins are equally athletic — Amanda Ilestedt plays football for FC Rosengård in the Damallsvenskan. 

Zebastian Ilestedt plays D1 hockey, currently for Lindlöven, but formerly played for Tingsryds AIF Juniors (in 2006 - 2008, so he and Oliver played together for a few years). 

Fabian Ilestedt also plays hockey, formerly for Leksand J18 and J20, but is now playing for Lindlöven with Zebastian. 

_(Apparently the decorations are a graduation thing. Oliver was very proud! -Ed.)_

_Their_ (presumably paternal, because there’s no blood relation to Oliver) grandfather’s brother — their great uncle — was a guy named Sven Tumba, who’s kind of legendary. He was the first European player to attend an NHL training camp (Boston Bruins, 1957), was inducted in the IIHF Hall of Fame in 1997, and beat out Peter Forsberg and Mats Sundin to be voted “Best Swedish Ice-Hockey Player of All Time.” And, in addition to all that, he also started the TV-Pucken tournament that Oliver participated in as part of the Småland team! 

Basically, Oliver’s entire extended family is _very_ into sports, particularly ice hockey (though the women seem to have decided on football as the sport of choice!). 

Oliver’s really taken it to the next level, though, and is the first in his family to break into the NHL, so needless to say, they are all super-proud of him. His friends and family come out to Phoenix to visit at least once a year, often sporting some very cool split Sweden/Coyotes jerseys they had custom-made (I asked them once and no, you can’t buy them anywhere, alas — however, the Swedes are super-nice and friendly!)

_(They travel in herds, as well, making them easy to spot in the wild! -Ed.)_

  
**Miscellaneous Personal Stuff!**

You may have noticed that one of Oliver’s nicknames, besides the obvious “OEL” that he plasters on everything (including Mikkel!), is “Harry.” That’s because this is how he dressed for Halloween one year, and the name stuck:

_(They don’t use it too much anymore, though — usually it’s Ollie, OEL, or “O”. -Ed.)_

From all reports, Oliver is pretty soft-spoken and not a loud presence in the room, but he basically gets the same “really great guy” reports as Mikkel, and doesn’t mind talking to the media for the most part, which means we have lots and lots of video of him beginning nearly every answer with, “Yeah, no, [answer].” It’s really very adorable. He’s pretty humble, generally, and seems to be really appreciative of every opportunity he’s had. 

Essentially, Oliver is a total sweetheart, so it’s no wonder that he’s become a fan-favorite on top of being part of the core of the Coyotes these days.

Oliver may not be the most outgoing or loud person on the team, but he’s not really shy, exactly? He just doesn’t always want to English (which is fair, especially right after he’s gotten back to Arizona after a summer in Sweden!), and seems like he’s more reserved when dealing with people outside of the Coyotes organization and his family and friends. He seems to be much chattier in Swedish, and quite social and outgoing with people he knows well. (Luckily, he has a _lot_ of friends and family!) 

Plus, of course, his teammates in Arizona, who he genuinely believes in — he’s got a lot of faith in his team, and even though he clearly gets frustrated when the team’s not doing well, he seems to generally keep a pretty positive attitude. 

Oliver was really pleased to sign a new contract with the Coyotes and has stated numerous times that he likes the group and wanted to stay long-term. Despite the fact that ownership was still up in the air at that point, the team recognized how much Oliver brings to the table, and signed him to a lengthy (and, especially considering the circumstances and the fact the contract had to be approved by the NHL, an _expensive_ ) deal because of it.

Suffice it to say, the management and his teammates on the Coyotes are super-fond of him, and he loves them back!

Probably as a result of his quiet tendencies, Oliver comes across as pretty reserved in North American hockey media (which is probably fine by him), but don’t believe that persona for a second! Oliver is not-very-secretly a ridiculous dorkface who probably should not be allowed in public without supervision. 

He also has a penchant for dorky headwear (…and other wear), please observe:

 

Basically, Oliver is a total goofball, which you would never know from his media interviews. Thankfully, we have Instagram. The point of this is, ~do not trust the innocent face~! Oliver’s got a pretty sly sense of humor, but he’s actually really funny, once you pick up on the fact that he’s joking _way more than you think he is_. (Case in point? He told the Coyotes media crew at the charity golf event that he doesn’t actually like golf, despite playing golf all the time. We still have no idea if he was just fucking with us or not.)

Luckily, Oliver spends approximately 100% of his time with Mikkel Bødker, who is a mostly-responsible individual, so we don’t have to worry about him getting into too much trouble. Except, of course, when the Swedes come to town…

_(Yeahhhhhh. More on them in Section 4! -Ed.)_


	3. ~*Precious Scandinavian Boyfriends*~

So why should you care about these two random Scandinavian hockey players, who play for the Arizona Coyotes, of all teams? 

Well, for a number of reasons. First off, they’re _really good at hockey_. 

This primer is about to dive into the deep end of the shipping pool, but I want to kick this off by emphasizing that point. 

Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Mikkel Bødker are young, talented guys who deserve a lot more attention from wider hockey fandom than they get. I’m personally willing to hang out the banners for team “OEL for the Norris,” for real. When they’re in the zone, their hockey is beautiful to watch, especially when they’re on the ice together. (And the goals they score together aren’t too shabby, either!)

But… we all know why we’re here in the “Boyfriends” section of this primer, so I won’t delay that gratification any longer: 

Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Mikkel Bødker are such boyfriends that it is actually physically painful to deal with their cuteness sometimes.

  
**~*BOYFRIENDS*~**

When Oliver came over to the States to start the 2010 NHL season with the then-Phoenix Coyotes, he had one slightly glaring problem to overcome: He didn’t speak English. (His claim, not mine! I’m willing to bet that even then, he spoke a lot more English than I speak Swedish, so…)

This, of course, is where we get our meet-cute, because guess who had been drafted in the first round by the Coyotes just a year before Oliver? None other than Mikkel Bødker! Mikkel had, of course, spent several years playing for Frölunda, a Swedish hockey team — Danish and Swedish are somewhat mutually intelligible, but Mikkel actually speaks fluent Swedish (apparently with a very distinct regional accent). Being able to actually talk to each other, Mikkel and Oliver bonded pretty much right away. 

_(Further fun fact: Oliver’s response to the desert island question? "This one is easy. I would pick Mikkel. He’s a great guy and we spend a lot of time together. He would be good company.”)_

Based on their mutual histories in Swedish hockey, it seems like they may have run into or across each other at some point prior to the NHL (further details in Section 4!), but they didn’t know each other well, if they had. They fixed that pretty quickly.

Not only were they road roommates, but they lived together in an apartment “for the first four years,” per [an interview Oliver gave over summer 2014, meaning from the time Oliver came over in 2010, essentially. ](http://www.hockeysverige.se/2014/06/23/mangsidige-oliver-nhl-stjarna-och-entreprenor/)

The beginning part of that season, it seems likely that they didn’t have an apartment, since there was movement up and down, to and from San Antonio, but by about halfway through the 2010-11 season, both of them were fairly secure in their positions on the roster, so it’s entirely possible that they decided to move in together at that point. 

In any case, here’s the condo complex where they lived until spring 2014:

Now, of course, with the new CBA, they each have their own rooms on roadtrips, and both of them have weighed in on the issue:

Current fannish speculation has that second, CBA-mandated hotel room set at “unoccupied” status, for obvious reasons.

Of course, living together and playing hockey together, they must get sick of each other, right? Wrong. Oh, so very wrong. Oliver and Mikkel are basically joined at the hip. At a recent Meet the Team event, Shane Doan described them as “two peas in a pod,” and he’s absolutely correct about that. The two of them do everything together, including traveling to games and to the plane for roadtrips:

_(Given the amount of money these guys have, and the necessity of a car in Arizona, one has to assume they each have one. This is Oliver’s. Regardless of the number of cars they actually own between them, however, they still drive to games/practice/team stuff together. I don’t actually have an interview source for this, but it’s pretty well known by… everyone. I think Oliver drives a lot of the time, because we sometimes get out-the-passenger-window Instagrams from Mikkel. -Ed.)_

They sit together _on_ the plane for roadtrips:

_(Yes, that’s their “spot,” on the plane, and it is very, very ~theirs~. -Ed.)_

To team events and outreach:

_(The other guy here is David Rundblad; he was traded to Chicago towards the end of the 2013 season, but prior to that, the OT3 was strong~ There’s a bit about him in Section 4! -Ed.)_

Most of our ability to accurately trace this epic level of togetherness begins in 2012 when everybody got on Instagram, so we mostly start from the lockout and move forward, here.

This is basically the first thing they did after the 2012 lockout was finally over, and both of them were back in Arizona again:

This is because they are doofuses, who also missed each other.

Luckily, the team seems to have accepted that the two of them operate as a unit! As a result, the team basically assigns them to do stuff together whenever possible.

They were sent together to the local ABC station on March 24, 2013; about 10 days after Oliver’s new contract was finalized:

They spent a while making hearteyes at each other on local television, as they do. And while they were there, [Mikkel Bødker did the weather](http://video.coyotes.nhl.com/videocenter/console?id=229773), which is a moment not to be missed. (But it didn't want to be embedded, so you get a link instead. Sorry!)

That’s all during the season, of course. So what about the off-season, the time when guys go home to see their friends and family for a few months? Well, they do that, too.

The summer normally begins with a Swedish invasion, as Oliver’s friends/family come to visit. Which doesn’t mean he abandons Mikkel, it just means that everyone hangs out together, being ridiculous:

_(April 23, 2013 — Mikkel’s Instagram)_

Of course, they all eventually head home to Europe.

The thing is, though, that while “home” for them is quite far away from Arizona, it’s _not_ very far away from _each other_. Brøndby and Tingsryd are only about 2hrs 40min apart by car. So it’s pretty easy for them to get to each other, and they do. Frequently. 

This was May 2, 2013. 

To give you an idea of what “I’m gonna miss him” means in OEL/Bøds land, Mikkel went home to join up with Team Denmark for IIHF Worlds… in Stockholm, Sweden. That took until about the middle of May. Somewhere around that time, Oliver _also_ came back to Sweden.

This picture is from June 1, 2013 (less than a full month later):

We’re going to pause here for a moment, because this picture is great for a number of reasons. First, of course, being the adorable matching outfits everyone is wearing to go boating (well, yachting, really). Second, and more critical for our purposes, take a look at the fingers spread out on Mikkel’s thigh, there in the lower left. See it? Great. Now, _whose hand is it?_

If your answer was “Mikkel’s hand,” you are wrong. Look again. And while you’re looking again, please note that Mikkel is sitting in Oliver’s lap. Or, more properly, on his thigh, but it basically amounts to the same thing. Namely: _oh my god just make out already~!_ (They won’t, though, because that is not for Instagram to see.)

Did you need it to get cuter? It gets cuter:

Need a translation on this one? Got you covered, folks: 

—Theme Party! #pride  
—There was a Pride Parade this weekend????  
—Made for each other :)

_(You can put it in Google Translate yourselves; just be aware that Mikkel is mixing Danish and Swedish so Google is like, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE??? and can’t translate it accurately in one shot.) ___

Did you think Summer 2013 ended there? NOT SO! 

Mikkel went to Wimbledon and ate escargot in London for a while, hanging out with Mads and Mathias Boe (a friend of theirs and champion badminton player, apparently!); meanwhile, Oliver hung out with his friends and his alarming number of adorable cousins and did a photoshoot for the OEL of Sweden launch. Then comes late August (to be exact, August 20), and who should appear at Oliver’s house? 

If you thought that picture up there was a big clue, you are correct! 

This is the actual best Mikkel Bødker smile on record. 

Mikkel smiles a _lot_ , people. Not so much on the ice, because he’s really focused, but off the ice? He smiles all the time. _This_ smile? This is the Oliver smile. Feel privileged to get to see it, y’all!  <3

Anyway, Mikkel was there for the OEL of Sweden launch, which kept Oliver pretty busy for a lot of that summer. (The line officially launched August 24, 2013!)

Of course, following this, Mikkel had a contract to sign and Oliver had passport issues to sort out, but they both got safely back to Phoenix and picked up right where they left off, being sent as a unit for team events:

This is from a hospital visit they did in early November, 2013 (along with David Rundblad, who’s in some of the other pics from the day). It basically encapsulates everything you need to know.

Just post-Sochi, in the spring of 2014, a momentous event happened! Oliver bought a house!

Specifically, this house right here. It’s a 4-bedroom, 5.5 bath, 5,900 sq ft house of ridiculousness, up in a gated golf community in Troon North. It has an elevator, and a closet that honestly might make you cry, so I won’t put a picture of it here, but it’s really, really amazing okay? Okay.

This is significant, because of course for a while there was speculation about whether Mikkel had also moved into the house, or not. Alas, initially it seemed the answer was not, since Oliver gave an interview (in Swedish) over the summer of 2014 that said Mikkel still lived at the old apartment. TRAGEDY. 

However! All hope was not lost! 

_So Scottsdale!_ magazine, an otherwise quite ridiculous publication, did a feature on Oliver in their December, 2014 issue, in which Oliver mentions moving into the new house (“It’s nice and quiet up there”), but also states, “I live with a teammate,” so for now, given that’s our most current information, we are going with Yes, Mikkel totally moved into the ridiculous house, possibly in the fall when they came back for training camp. 

(This actually makes sense, since they probably had a lease to finish out at the other place anyway, and also because Mads _and_ the Swedes all invaded last spring, so there would have been quite a shortage of available beds if everyone was in that house, huge as it is! As it is, I am not entirely sure where everyone slept, because they smashed a lot of people in there.)

_(This is just the relevant excerpts! You can read the whole article[here](https://www.dropbox.com/s/8hvkgcy038re3ak/SS_Dec14.pdf?dl=0) if you like; it’s really good! I edited it down to a PDF of just Oliver’s interview, so you don’t have to suffer through a million advertisement pages to find it.)_

But of course, we’ve jumped ahead, so let’s rewind to Spring 2014!

April 6, 2014 — Bowling night! Mikkel, Oliver, and the ladies of Coyotes Charities. Of course.

Lest you think that Summer 2013 was an aberration, we now present: Summer 2014!

On April 13, they both got fitted for new custom tuxedos!

Summer 2014 really kicks off with the traditional Swedish invasion, plus Mads came to visit! More detail will be given about the complexities of this web of social ties in Section 4, but suffice it to say that everyone knows each other pretty well at this point.

Mads came out to visit, and so the Bødker brothers went to Vegas for a while:

_(April 19, 2014 — Mads’ Instagram)_

Meanwhile, the Swedes had come to town!

_(April 15, 2014 — Niklas’ Instagram)_

_(April 19, 2014 — Oliver’s Instagram)_

The Swedes stayed until April 30th, at least, since they were hanging around being dorks and making Paradise Hotel jokes about Daniel having to leave:

_(April 30, 2014 — Robin’s Instagram)_

You’d think this meant that they were stay-cationing separately in the AZ/NV area, because Mads and Mikkel appear in none of Oliver and the Swedes’ pictures (that are unlocked, anyway), and because the reverse is also true. You would be wrong.

Their photos carefully leave each other out, but the whole crop of them went out to the lake to go boating/jet-skiing/etc.

_(April 21, 2014 — Mads’ Instagram. The head in the back might be Mads or a Swede; it’s impossible to tell.)_

_(More April 21, 2014 — Mads’ Instagram)_

_(~ALSO~ April 21, 2014 — Oliver’s Instagram. It’s the same jetski Mads was using, fyi.)_

Extended-family vacation for everyone! Hooray! (This makes a ton of sense, actually, because the Swedes and the Bødker brothers are super-fond of each other — see Section 4!).

They all eventually headed back to Europe for the rest of the summer, but was that the end of their time together for the off-season? Of course not! They had two weddings and a golf tournament to attend! (Hence the need for those tuxes!)

Actually, I fibbed a little bit there. We’re pretty assured that both Oliver and Mikkel were in attendance at [Patrik Aronsson’s wedding](http://instagram.com/p/qFfHPZKeNw/?modal=true) on July 5, since they both are represented by AC Hockey / Titan365. 

We’re _not_ sure whether Oliver was also in attendance at Frans Nielsen’s wedding the following week:

_(That’s Jimmy, apparently. -Ed.)_

Mikkel, obviously, was in attendance — he and Nielsen were teammates on Rauman Lukko in 2012. Also, yes, that is a _fabulous_ tux; good work, Jen from Élevée!

Regardless of whether Oliver attended that one or not, they were back together fairly soon thereafter: OEL of Sweden hosted a golf tournament in Karlskrona, and of course Mikkel and Oliver were on a team together, along with Jake Nilsson (one of the TAIF guys), and Patrik Carnbäck, their other agent. (Yes, AC Hockey is two guys who are both named Patrik.)

_(Their team won the tournament, too! And they promise it wasn’t fixed. -Ed.)_

Of course, during the off-season they still have to keep their hockey skills sharp. So clearly, the best possible plan is for… Mikkel to join in Tingsryds AIF’s Skills Competition? _Yes._ That is the best possible plan. And that’s what happened, on August 7th:

Possibly the most important thing to happen at TAIF Skills Competition in 2014, other than Bøds playing defense during the scrimmage game (to prevent some kind of unfair advantage? for the lulz? the world may never know~), is that this photo was taken:

There are so many things to be said about this picture, but let's stick with: this is how they are with each other... in Oliver's tiny hometown, surrounded by his friends and family (his dad was the referee for the game!). It's basically how they are always, tbh, but. LOOK. AT. THEM.

The TAIF Skills Competition is a Very Serious Event, as you can see from this highlight reel from 2013:

_(Apparently Oliver says something like, “He's going to do the same move and score. And then it's like, bye bye. He told me!" after his shootout attempt.)_

This is what they mean by “training in the off-season,” folks!

Did you notice who was in that video, giggling at Oliver like the ridiculous, adorable human that he is? Yup. Mikkel did the Skills Competition in 2013, too: 

Not only did he participate, he actually won fastest skater! (Which, totally to be expected — as mentioned in his bio section, Mikkel Bødker can _skate_.)

Here’s the rest of the Skills Competition video from 2013, it’s pretty fun, actually! They Go-Pro’d several of the guys, including Oliver, so there’s some nifty mid-game shots.

_(This is also a great mini-introduction to a few of the Swedes, who we shall cover in more detail in the next part!)_

Of course, eventually they do have to come back to Arizona to play hockey. However, there’s no reason that vacation can’t go on a while longer! So they decided to have Date Night in Vegas, apparently:

_(September 13, 2014, at the MGM Grand — Oliver’s Instagram)_

On September 25, they went to a concert (with Henrik Samuelsson, because training camp!):

_(The instagram is a video, hence this screencap instead of a pic! -Ed.)_

Luckily, even though there is not much time for Date Night during the season, the team has not changed its stance on sending Oliver and Mikkel out to do team outreach as a unit!

The Coyotes media team finally got with the whole trend of “behind the scenes” videos, and kicked off the season with a three-part event called “Building the Pack”. Unfortunately, FoxSports Arizona has failed massively at making this available online for those of us who couldn’t watch it on TV. However, fandom is wily, so here are a couple of relevant clips (presented for purposes of commentary)!

First off, here is the time that Oliver and Mikkel took the rookies along on their sushi date:  


And then proceeded to question them like they just came home after their first year of college or something; it’s pretty great, as the general married-couple-ness of their interactions. Clearly, Oliver had not previously discussed his tattoo ambitions — watch Max’s face when he’s looking at Mikkel’s reaction. <3 (Also, Mikkel being such a dad about Max’s tattoos. “So you got _two!?_ Last year you had zero!” I die~ )

And this video that includes that “altercation” from training camp:  


As you can see, even the official Coyotes media basically treats them as a unit, because… they are.

On November 28, 2014 (AKA Black Friday), the Coyotes held “HockeyFest” at Gila River Arena, with a special ticket offer for a meet & greet with your choice of players: Either Shane Doan and Keith Yandle, or… Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Mikkel Bødker.

They also came out to the festivities and played ball hockey, which was very adorable!  


On December 8, 2014, the team built a playground as a charity project. Guess who worked together?

This project was for a great cause, and also lovely because it gave us a chance to see a really good comparison of their heights and body types! (…by photoshopping Chris Summers out of the middle of the picture *cough*) Anyway, Oliver is very much tall and skinny, where Mikkel is stockier. Also, Oliver has no ass to speak of, which is insane, since he’s a _hockey player_. This is the photo in question (as mentioned, it has been photoshopped, b/c Chris Summers was in the way — this is the only ‘shopped photo in the primer, though! It’s here for size comparison purposes, and also for tight jeans):

(Of course, the greater mystery may be how Mikkel managed to squeeze his ass and thighs into those jeans…)

Most currently, Mikkel is out on IR for 4-6 weeks recovering from his successful spleen surgery, so we probably won’t be seeing him for a while. After leaving him in the hospital in Winnipeg on the Sunday the 18th, the team did pretty terribly against the Blackhawks on the 20th, which may have been related — particularly because Oliver looked like he hadn’t slept since Sunday. _(I was at the game; Ollie played hard and was still amazing, but looked half-dead and pretty distracted. Shane Doan was trying to keep him upbeat during warmups, but it wasn’t working very well. -Ed.)_

Hopefully Oliver will be more himself at the All-Star Game; we’ll have to wait and see. 

[When it comes to Oliver being chosen for the All-Star Game](http://coyotes.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=749732), Mikkel is a very proud boyfriend:

> Ekman-Larsson’s teammates are excited he’s getting the chance to showcase his skills in the All-Star setting. Forward Mikkel Boedker, who is Ekman-Larsson’s best friend on the Coyotes, said he expects his pal to fit in quite nicely among the NHL’s elite players.
> 
> "He’s proven he can play at a world-class level in real games so I think he’ll do just fine at the All-Star Game," Boedker said. "He has all the skills to compete with those players."
> 
> He added: "It’s not easy to be an All-Star in this league and at a young age he’s proven that he’s worthy. I’m very proud of him. We all are."

  


And of course, Mikkel wished Ollie luck during the All-Star Weekend:

And then Oliver used Mikkel's go-to shootout move in the Skills Competition! And we all expired from feels~

**THE MOST IMPORTANT UPDATE EVER~!** (Until the next very important update...) Oliver did a segment of "5 Minutes in the Box with Tyson Nash" (Tyson's our color commentator and a former Coyote), and approximately all of it was calculated to make us explode.

The video includes: Yes, they still live together (in the ridiculous house), Mikkel is lazy and spends all his time on the couch, Oliver does the driving but Mikkel picks the music, Mikkel doesn't pay rent but he does cook sometimes, and yes, Oliver is his sugar daddy. _Watch this video people it is so beautiful~_

**UPDATE AGAIN!**

Here's the full segment of OEL's 5 Minutes in the Box, featuring all of the above, _plus_ : Mikkel Bødker doesn't wear OEL of Sweden underwear because ~his thighs are too big~, and a typical Friday night at their place apparently features Mikkel lounging on the couch, a nice dinner, and a movie. &DATE NIGHT;

Of course, further updates may be made to this primer in the future!

So, how would we characterize their relationship? We don’t need to debate it too much, because they keep doing the work for us:

 

  


0.34  
 **Reporter:** We were saying before, Mikkel, that you speak Swedish with a perfect Göteborg-accent, how come?*

**Bødker:** I went to school there for two years, and then **I’ve learned by talking to Oliver too. You have to look after him - whenever he gets too comfortable on the ice and won’t make a good pass, you have to be able to shout at him a little.** But it’s good to keep up with it, especially when you go across the channel to Sweden, to be able to keep up with the conversation. It’s good. 

1.02  
 **Reporter:** Both of you have had a great season, your best seasons so far actually. Any comments on that, Oliver? 

**OEL:** Yeah, **I have a lot to thank Bødker for. He takes care of me off the ice, which makes you feel good on ice too.** But it’s also that we’re both given a lot of trust from the team, I think that makes a big difference.

Translation?

> Oliver Ekman-Larsson is a pretty sociable person and despite being quite young at 19, he never felt as if he faced any difficulty getting accepted into the team. 
> 
> “No problems at all. But it helped me a lot that Mikkel Bødker was on the team already. I guess I didn't really know him that well when I came over, but we got to know each other pretty fast. He really took care of me, as did the rest of them.”
> 
> “But most of all it was a relief having a half-Swede already on the team,” says Ekman-Larsson with a smile. 

_(Astute readers will note that yes, that is Oliver making a joke at the end there. I ~told~ you he’s funny! -Ed.)_

Need more, before you are fully convinced? Well, here’s Oliver’s episode of “My Story,” which, while not terribly long, could still be a reasonable basis for a drinking game. The rules? Drink every time a shot of Oliver doing something also features Mikkel.

_(Note: You will drink 3 times in less than 2 minutes. If that doesn’t sound like a lot, realize that the video is like, 80% stock film of landscapes. Also, if you are again an astute viewer, you will realize that when Oliver was talking about his hometown, they showed Karlskrona. The NHL is kind of dumb sometimes. Tingsryd, people! ~Tingsryd~ A special bonus of this video, though, is that you can see Oliver’s mom! That’s what she looks like. -Ed.)_

The video gets one thing very right — they arrive together all the time. And leave together, all the time. Basically, Mikkel and Oliver are together. All. The. Time. It is their modus operandi, and it seems to be working out pretty well for them so far!

  


**Concluding Remarks:**

I feel like it’s pretty obvious why Bøds/OEL fans think they’re adorable together (hint: it’s because ~they are~), but I feel like concluding this section with some thoughts on the issue. So I reached out to some other Coyotes fans to get some additional perspectives on the pairing, and why we love it! So I will say my piece, then cede the floor to the rest of #TeamAZ.

First off, for my own part, I have such a soft spot for the whole “he takes care of me” dynamic, as something to work with for fannish purposes (HAN TOG VERKLIGEN HAND OM MIG, write it on my graaaaaaaaaaave~ ♥ ). But I also like that with OEL/Bøds, that doesn’t translate to codependency. Oliver and Mikkel don’t have to be together to function; they both have other friends and interests and parts of their lives that don’t overlap. Instead, they constantly _choose_ to be together, because being together is preferable to _not_ being together, and I love that. Every time they talk about each other, it’s blinding how much they love each other as people, and respect each other as players. They complement each other extremely well, and watching them interact is basically the greatest thing ever. They’re 100% comfortable with each other, both off the ice and on. Basically their real lives are schmoopy curtain fic, and it makes my heart happy.

> From Ayysmitty:
> 
> “Every team has that one epic bromance that everyone latches on to and Olie/Bøds is ours. Even if these boys aren’t more than just epic bros (which I highly doubt; they’re totally more than that), I would still be a fan of theirs. I think they’re more than that because of the way they talk about each other, the way the team talks about them together (Doaner literally called them “peas in a pod,” and that is my [Tumblr] tag for them), and the fact that they are bad at trying to be low profile (all the pics from the condo [where it’s obvious they’re in the same place, even if they’re not taking pictures of each other]). In the end, they are the ones that choose to do everything together and I’m just here to flail about when they make a new post on Instagram.”

  


> From PointatYou / wrongpatrickmom [Tumblr]:
> 
> ”I think aside from the obvious (cute boys on a hockey team who are occasionally *snorts* near each other) there's the fact that they're really close in real life. Off season, may or may not living together. They're just ~there~ for each other. Olie says Bøds takes care of him, but I think Bøds likes having Olie to take care of. Their on ice chemistry is pretty off the charts. Different positions and they complement each other with it. Even watching the rest of the team you can tell they're each other's focus. Shane even said something to that effect, right? So you've got the bonus of team approval and not just fantasy approval, actual approval. Lol. I like that they're involved with each other's families. Um, the physical aspects don't hurt anything. The height difference, the weight difference. I like that Olie suffers through golf for Bøds (it is that way around right?). I'd love to know what Olie makes Bøds do in return. Anyway, tl;dr they're pretty perfect for each other and I love that we get glimpses of it.”

  


> From Saxifandomck:
> 
> ”Oliver and Mikkel grabbed my eye first. Two smiley friends who are actually close. When I was first watching the Coyotes I didn't notice… Until I did. Watching morning skates and practices, you could tell they were close. Smiles and laughing and chirping. Mikkel being protective. (The whole TEAM is protective of Olie, lets be real.) You just notice things. Then you find out they are always together. The staff talk about them like they are never apart. They do all events next to each other. When the team Captain tells you, "They’re two peas in a pod, never apart,” you know its something special. (Also they make curtain fic boring because it feels like it would be a typical Tuesday. Way to ruin my trope, idiots.)”


	4. Mads Bødker and the Swedish Knitting Circle

And now, the mysterious Section 4! (I know you’ve all been waiting for it!)

This is sort of a bonus section, because it would have been really difficult to explain all of this in the other parts of the primer without making it completely confusing, but at the same time, Mads Bødker and the Swedish Knitting Circle are incredibly important, and shouldn’t be left out. 

(As an additional bonus, there’s a bit about David Rundblad at the end, because for a while our Coyotes OTP was an OT3, and that’s also important history to know!)

Let’s start with Mads Bødker, because Mads is the best and everyone should love him. This is Mads:

Mads Bødker is Mikkel’s older brother; he was born Aug 31, 1987, making him about 2 years older. Unlike Mikkel, however, Mads is a defenseman. He’s also pretty short, at only 5’ 8”, which is a big part of why he was never able to make it to the NHL — he’s got skills, but not amazing-enough skills to overcome his size. He mostly wears number 4.

Regardless, Mads has made a pretty good career for himself! Like Mikkel, he started out playing for their “hometown” Rødovre Mighty Bulls, playing for them from 2003 - 2006, as well as for the Danish national team at the WJC and IIHF Worlds in 2006. After that, though… well, that’s where things get interesting. 

In 2005, Mikkel had gone to Sweden to play for Frölunda HC’s juniors teams. Mads followed his little brother to Sweden in 2006-07, but to play for Rögle in the Allsvenskan, where he would stay for several seasons: specifically, from 2006 - 2011. 

This ends up being quite important! 

After being an “A” in Rögle for 2010-11, Mads left to play for Leksands IF, also in the Allsvenskan, for 2011-12 — this is ALSO important, and we’ll come back to it shortly.

He played for Leksand for one season, then went to play for Malmö for 2012-13, again in the Allsvenskan (he’s in his Malmö jersey in that top pic!). After that, he played for Yuzhny Ural Orsk in the Russian Supreme Hockey League (VHL) for part of a season, then went to Düsseldorfer EG in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL). He’s currently settled for the 2014-15 season with SønderjyskE, in the Danish Metal Ligaen, which is the top Danish league. 

We’ll leave Mads there for the moment, because it’s time to introduce some Swedes!

This is Robin Olsson:

He was born Feb 5, 1989, so he’s actually pretty close in age to both Mikkel and Mads, and about 2 1/2 years older than Oliver. He spent most of his juniors career playing for Tingsryds AIF, from 2005-2008, including 5 games for TAIF in Division 1 in 2007-08. Then, in 2008-09, he made a move … to play for Rögle J20 in the SuperElit league. You will notice that this is the same system that Mads Bødker was playing for, at that time. (This will be a recurring theme!)

Anyway, Robin played for Rögle for only one year; in 2009-10 he played for IK Pantern in D1, but in 2010-11 he moved back to TAIF and has been with them ever since (aside from a brief loan to Mörrums GoIS in the 2010-11 season). He was given an “A” in 2012-13, and then the “C” in 2013-14, but doesn’t have a letter currently. Robin is a defenseman, his nickname is “Rockan” (I’m assuming for obscure, Swedish reasons), and he wears number 32. We’ll get to that after the introductions.

Robin has a younger brother, Linus:

Linus has played almost exclusively for Tingsryds since 2006-07. He wore the “C” for Tingsryds J20 from 2008 - 2011, and moved up to play for TAIF in 2011-12, though that same year he did a stint on loan to Olofströms IK. In 2012-13 he played for Kallinge/Ronneby, but moved back to TAIF for 2013-14, and is still with them currently. Linus is a defenseman, wears number 55, and I have no idea if he has a nickname.

All these pictures of Linus are too serious. This is _also_ Linus (and Oliver, obviously), being ridiculous at a KISS concert in June, 2013: 

There. Now we’re starting to get the right idea.

The other guy in this picture with Robin and Linus is Jake Nilsson:

Jake was born Oct 12, 1993, so he’s kind of the baby of the group. He’s also a “new addition” to the Tingsryds organization, relatively speaking; he started his juniors career with Mörrums GoIS, joining Tingsryds in the 2009-10 season. However, it’s pretty clear he became fast friends with everyone, and he’s now one of the core group of guys for TAIF. His nickname is Lille-Jake, because there was a big Jake, so he’s little Jake. Obviously. He’s a right winger, and wears number 93.

Oliver, Robin, and Jake seem to be pretty tight. Well, all of them are, but those three definitely. (Jake also seems to enjoy holding hands with his bros, as you do.)

Other Swedes of note include Filip Owesson:

Filip was born Nov 30, 1991, in Växjö, which is just north of Tingsryd. He’s played with Tingsryds exclusively since 2007, and was an “A” for TAIF in the 2013-14 season. He doesn’t have a letter this year (it seems like they’ve shuffled that around). Filip is a winger (both sides), and wears number 81.

Niklas Sjöström is another Swede to know:  


Born Dec 20, 1990, Nick Sjöström is one of the guys who’s in the “childhood friend” category — he played for Tingsryds in juniors from 2006 - 2009, but then bounced around a bit, playing for a bunch of other teams around the D2 and D1 leagues. In 2013-14 he came back to TAIF, but for 2014-15 he’s with Halmstad HF (he also played for them from 2010 - 2012). Despite not being around a lot for a number of years there, he’s still pretty close with the TAIF guys, so he shows up in pictures and mentions from time to time.

This is Rasmus Johansson:  


Despite being born on June 23, 1990, he’s basically the only one who looks like an authentic grownup. Rasmus also basically grew up with the Tings boys — he played junior with them from 2006 - 2010 (with a brief loan out in that last season), then played D1 for Nybro IF from 2010 - 2012, and Olofströms IK from 2012 - 2013. But, since the 2013-14 season, he’s back with TAIF! Yay! Anyway, he’s not around all the time, but he pops up occasionally.

This is Daniel Palmér:

Daniel isn’t dressed as a hockey player, because he isn’t one anymore, at least not professionally. He was born October 11, 1989, grew up with the Tings boys, and played with Tingsryds for juniors from 2006 - 2008. In 2008-09 he played D3 hockey for Tegs SK, but that’s the end of his stats. I have no idea what he actually does at this point, but the part that’s useful for our purposes is that he’s still good friends with Oliver and the TAIF guys; he comes with them to visit Phoenix in the spring, etc.

And of course, we can’t forget Kevin Ekman-Larsson, Oliver’s younger brother:

Being four years younger than Oliver, born Jan 26, 1995, Kevin didn’t start his juniors career until the 2009-10 season, with Tingsryds. However, from 2011 - 2013, he followed in Oliver’s footsteps and spent some time playing for Leksand’s juniors teams. In 2013-14, he came back to Tingsryds AIF, and he’s still with them currently. He’s also been invited to Coyotes prospect camp, which was very exciting for those of us who are overly-invested in the Ekman-Larsson brothers! _*cough* -Ed._

And of course, Kevin joins his teammates and friends in their yearly pilgrimages to Phoenix to watch Oliver play, and be ridiculous:

_(This picture may actually be at Worlds, but this gives you a very good idea of what the Swedish invasion of Glendale usually looks like!)_

Now, we have to take an aside to talk, just briefly, about another Swede who will never appear in any of the Instagrams: Erik Clarberg.

This is Erik Clarberg. He was born July 25, 1989, and played for Tingsryds from 2004 - 2006. [He died from an “intestinal disease” on July 16, 2006, shortly before his 16th birthday.](http://erikclarberg.dinstudio.se/)

Now, Erik is in this for a reason, and that reason isn’t just to make everyone sad. It’s to give an understanding of some of the bonds that exist between this group of guys. For one thing, Erik is the reason that Oliver wears 23 as his number. Erik is also probably the reason that Robin wears 32, and definitely the reason why has a “23” tattoo on his ribs:

_(You can see it in this picture. L-R: Robin, Oliver, and Linus.)_

Robin, Linus, Daniel, and Erik were childhood friends from the time they were really small, and he meant a lot to all of the TAIF guys. Remember, Tingsryd is a _tiny_ town — they were all very close. There’s not a lot of detail on exactly what happened, but apparently Erik’s death was sudden and unexpected. Basically, these guys lost one of their good friends, very suddenly, in their mid-teens. And that’s why Erik is being mentioned in this primer: that’s the sort of life experience that creates very strong bonds.

Oliver had this to say about Erik, in [a recent article](http://coyotes.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=749732):

> "He was two years older than me but we still practiced together a lot and we had a lot of the same friends," Ekman-Larsson said. "He was the captain of one of the teams I played on growing up and a guy I always looked up to because he was just a great guy on and off the ice and a really good hockey player. When I was younger I wanted to be like him."

These guys haven’t forgotten about him, either. They celebrate his birthday every year, and Robin’s tweets are sort of heartbreaking:

TAIF has the Erik Clarberg Minnesfond (Memorial Fund) in his honor; it’s awarded every year to a Tingsryds AIF player who displays the qualities that characterized Erik: A good teammate and friend, diligent, loyal, dedicated, and with good behavior on and off the rink. Robin (2007), Oliver (2008), and Jake (2013) have all been recipients.

This has been a depressing aside, but it’s important to know where these guys are coming from — hockey players tend to be close, it seems, but the core TAIF guys are close on a level that’s unusual, even for hockey players, and the loss of Erik Clarberg has, perhaps, a lot to do with that. Think about it like this: Robin has his number tattooed permanently on his body. Oliver has, essentially, _carried his memory into the NHL_. He meant a hell of a lot to them, and he still does.

  


**The Development of the Knitting Circle:**

OKAY. We need to break up the maudlin moment, so let’s talk about Mads Bødker and the Swedish Knitting Circle, which is the real point of this section of the primer.

Mads and the Swedes are bros. Like, way more than would be expected, just from Oliver and Mikkel being on the same team and the lot of them knowing each other through that connection. So, some history needs to be explored, here!

We’ll start in 2005-06, because that’s realistically the first time the Bødker brothers and the TAIF guys would have started running into each other, and go from there. (This bit is sort of more of an encyclopedia/reference guide for fic writing purposes? So it gets a bit confusing. For those of you who are visual learners, I made a spreadsheet so I could keep track of all of this while I was researching, you can find a copy of it [here](https://www.dropbox.com/s/v68vdfnxl8dau1b/Swedish%20Knitting%20Circle.xlsx?dl=0)!)

In 2005-06, Mikkel had moved to Sweden to play for Frölunda, in the J18 Allsvenskan. At that point, Oliver wasn’t there yet, but Robin was playing for Tingsryds in the same juniors league, so it’s entirely possible they played against each other at some point.

In 2006-07, Mikkel didn’t actually play many games in the J18 Allsvenskan, since he was moving up the ranks in Frölunda pretty quickly, but at that point, not only Robin, but also Oliver, Linus, Danny and Rasmus were in the J18 Allsvenskan, so it’s definitely possible that they ran across each other. Equally importantly, this was the season where Mads came across the channel to Sweden, to play for Rögle in the Allsvenskan. The world of Swedish hockey is not enormous, and with that in mind, it’s not outside the realm of possibility that they knew _of_ Mads, at that point.

2007-08 isn’t a huge year, other than that all of the Swedes (except Kevin and Jake, who are younger) were playing together in Tingsryd at this point. Mads was still playing for Rögle, but Mikkel had just gone to play for Kitchener in the OHL.

2008-09 brings more interest, because this is where Mads and the Swedes run into each other — that season, Robin went to play for Rögle’s junior team. At the same time, Mads was still playing for Rögle’s pro team, so at this point it’s almost certain that Mads and Robin knew each other, at least a little bit. It was also probably hard to miss Mads that year, given that his brother had just been drafted into and started playing in the NHL — it’s hockey, that sort of thing is a big deal. Meanwhile, Oliver had joined Leksand, in the Allsvenskan.

2009-10 of course marks the year that Oliver spent in Leksand after his draft. But it’s also significant because the 2010 IIHF World Championship is when Oliver and Mads played against each other: [Sweden beat Denmark 4-2 in the Quarterfinals on May 20, 2010](http://stats.iihf.com/Hydra/230/IHM230350_74_3_0.pdf) — Oliver had 17:47 TOI, and Mads had 17:51 TOI.

Of course, in 2010-11, Mikkel and Oliver were both in the States, playing for the Coyotes or the Rampage, depending on what part of the year you’re looking at. However, things back in Sweden were equally interesting! At that point, Mads was still playing for Rögle in the Allsvenskan (he had an “A” that year, in fact!), and Robin came back to Tingsryds to play for TAIF… which was _also_ in the Allsvenskan at that point, so they were playing against each other. (The other guys were primarily in TAIF’s juniors system.) But the most important part of this is that, especially given that Oliver and Mikkel were now playing for the same team, it’s pretty inevitable that everyone started getting to know each other better than they had previously.

By about halfway through the 2011-12 season, this becomes _really_ obvious. For one thing, Mads was playing in Leksand in the Allsvenskan, and Kevin was _also_ playing in Leksand, in the juniors system. For another, the rest of the TAIF guys were playing for the pro team at that point, which was _also_ in the Allsvenskan. Robin, Linus, Jake, and Filip were all on TAIF that year. 

We could speculate about whether Mads and the Swedes knew each other very well at this point, or we could just look at what they’ve given us in the way of historic artifacts:

_(This is all one conversation, btw. -Ed.)_

Given that Filip is blaming Mads for getting _all of TAIF_ on Twitter (he’s not joking, a whole bunch of them joined Twitter all at the same time, which is why the other guy is asking about them storming Twitter), and later making jokes about Bødkerisms… yeah. They know each other.

By the time we get to summer 2012, it’s pretty clear that everybody knows everybody, and that, dangerously for everyone’s sanity, _Mads and the Swedes are friends_. Good friends, even! Which is terrifying. We should all be very afraid, actually.

In 2012-13, Mads was playing for Malmö, but still in the Allsvenskan, and alas, we have no knowledge of any hijinks that may have ensued, which may be a mercy. I don’t know if we could collectively handle that much ridiculousness.

By summer of 2013, Mikkel was joining in at the TAIF Skills Competition, you may recall. As time has gone on, _everyone_ has gotten to be good friends. The shared vacations are definitely a Thing, at this point. But more importantly than that, it’s not a “trying to mix your friend groups and it’s awkward” sort of situation. Take this, for example:

This is Rasmus and Robin, not only (for some reason) calling Mikkel a god as they bother him about whether he’s still going to be in Phoenix when they get there, but also joking about his favorite drink from home (and possibly giving him shit for being Danish; we’re not 100% sure on the “Preben” thing):

And of course, Jake was on Oliver and Mikkel’s team for the KHK Open (that golf tournament that OEL of Sweden hosted over the summer of 2014, remember):

So basically, at this point everyone is one big, ridiculous Scandinavian hockey family that goes on vacations together, because that’s just what you do. _Obviously._

The important thing to take away from this is that the in-laws (on both sides!) totally approve. Even if they are super-careful never to include each other in their photos, so we don’t have any giant group pictures, which is a complete tragedy. Alas! We can always hope that they’ll finally post one at some point in the future.

**A Final Note about David Rundblad**

This is David Rundblad, who shows up in a lot of Oliver and Mikkel’s old pictures, for some fairly obvious reasons: He’s Swedish, and played for the Coyotes. 

_(He’s also fully equipped to be in a modeling AU! -Ed.)_

Not only that, though; they all also lived, either together or basically on top of each other, in that condo complex (see the pic in the Boyfriends section), and the OT3 was very strong.

“Mushy!”

_(Yes, since you asked, that ~is~ an actual hottubbing picture. Yes it is. Actually, Oliver seemed to like taking pictures of his boyfriends together, so there are a lot of pictures of Mikkel and David, taken by Oliver. This is just the best one. -Ed.)_

“Just you missing at this lunch!” 

_(Plz excuse me while I throw myself off a bridge~ -Ed.)_

So we had an OT3, and it was very intense and awesome, even if Rundy didn’t really ever get to play and kind of couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn? …He’s very pretty; that sort of made up for it. But not, apparently, to the actual management of our hockey team, because he was traded to the Blackhawks at the end of the 2013-14 season, and there was much mourning and gnashing of teeth, to see our OT3 so disrupted. Woe and sadness. :(

But shipping the OT3 is still totally valid, and is a good life choice that you should consider, as like, ~advanced level~ Coyotes shipping. *thumbs up*

…Actually, that’s a lie. _This_ is advanced-level Coyotes shipping:

But we shall save Shane/Mike for another day~

(Thanks for reading, folks! Go forth, enjoy adorable Scandinavian hockey-playing boyfriends! \o/ )


End file.
